Milling Four Square Lumber

Written by Dave Markel

Introduction:

This tutorial assumes that you know how to safely operate your power tools. Always refer to manufacturer instructions if you are unsure how to use your tools.

Any wood worker needs to take a board from lumber yard or their local sawyer and make this board a uniform thickness, length and width. This board needs to have all four edges square to each other. This is referred to a milling a board four square and is a pre-requisite to any wood working project.

This is best accomplished by using a jointer, thickness planer, miter and circular saws and a table saw. In this example we will mill a board 30" x 4-1/2" x 5/8" with all for edges square to each other.

Step 1: Rough cut your stock Rough cut your stock to 30-3/4" x 4-3/4" and maintain same overall thickness. Start by selecting a piece of stock larger then your finished size (obviously) and use a framing square to square off one end of board. Be sure end isn't checked (cracked) and if it is square board off just beyond where cracks end.

Make cut using a circular saw being careful to make a fairly square cut. Now measure 30-3/4", rough length, and square off board using your framing square. and make second cut same way you made first. Be careful to cut on waste side of line.

Step 2: Rip to rough width The table saw is best tool for this cut. Set rip fence so it is 4-3/4" from blade and set height of blade so gullet of teeth are same height as stock. Following directions included with your table saw start blade and make cut, being sure to use a push stick.

Step 3: Truing one face Now that your piece of stock is rough size needed it is time to true up one face. This is best accomplished with jointer.

As always with jointer it is advisable now to take more than 1/16" per pass. Taking more wood per pass will overwork machine and give results that are less than optimal.

Analyze board to determine direction of grain and whether there is cupping. It is best to place cupped face down since it will site better on jointer table. Run board through for a couple of passes until you have a uniform face free of voids and dips.

Shop and Personal Safety

Written by Dave Markel

Don't let your table saw catch you working unsafely in workshop.

Shop and Personal Safety:

Being safety conscious should be priority for everyone whether they are a serious wood worker or just a week-end warrior. Shop safety begins when you buy a new tool, before operating it you should read through and understand operators manual. This will have important instructions about safe operation of that particular tool.

Lets face it! All wood working machines are made to remove wood, which is considerably harder than flesh and bone. Some tools are much more dangerous than other. I would say that a table saw is most dangerous stationary tool and circular saw most dangerous hand tool.

Aside from reading manuals that come with your tools, protecting your hearing and eyes should be high on safety priorities list. Some people, me included, rely on prescription glasses for protection. This is OK but really doesn't provide full coverage.

If you don't protect your ears you will loose your hearing. This is not debatable! After 25 years of operating power tools without protection my father wears a hearing aid.

One aspect of safe wood working that is often overlooked is dust. Wood dust is a carcinogenic. Recient studies have shown wood workers that don't use dust masks or have a dust collection system have higher rates of nasal cancer.